The Pink Cart's Be Healthy Blog

The Pink Cart's own team member Lauren is back this week with a reminder for how important it is for all of us to take time to rest and relax during this busiest of seasons. It may seem like a simple task, but few of us really take time for ourselves during the holidays, so it's important to remember the true health benefits of minimizing stress in our lives.

Well it's the middle of September and we are into Fall football season full-swing now. Whether you are a fan of college ball, pro ball, or both, it's the time of year where you show your team pride with abandon! Of course, the best part about it is Game Day...and while we love a good time as much as the next Breast Cancer Fighters, we know that sometimes Game Day can bring with it some unhealthy choices.

By now it’s probably old news that we can do a lot to prevent the development of cancer in our breasts, our skin, our bones, and almost everywhere else in our bodies. It’s awesome to know we have so much power over our health, but sometimes it can be a little intimidating. Where do we begin? What do we stop doing, what do we start? Do we just need a new breakfast plan, or do we need a whole new lifestyle? All the details can be pretty discouraging and might lead us away from making positive changes.

Spring is in the air. Warmer weather, more sunshine, new blooms and endless possibilities of places to go and people to see. But sometimes this season of fun in the sun can easily lead us astray from our workouts, our diets and our general attention paid to our health. So, we thought up some ways for you to enjoy the season with your friends and loved ones and sneak in some healthy habits at the same time!

Have you heard about Choose You? It’s the American Cancer Society’s® program that empowers women to lead a healthy lifestyle as the primary way to prevent cancer. One of their tools is a monthly recipe to support a healthy diet. So, we thought we would go ahead and share that with you! We hope you try this recipe! Leave a comment and share your favorite healthy meal with us.

We came across this chart recently that shows the difference in nutritional value in vegetables grown with organic methods versus conventional commercial methods. We were SHOCKED! We’ve always thought, a veggie is a veggie is a veggie. But not so. Turns out the ways in which our produce is farmed and harvested makes a huge impact in the benefits we get from it by the time it’s put on our tables. Take a look – how does your favorite produce measure up?

Ever since the American Cancer Society proclaimed a direct link between obesity and cancer deaths, we on the Pink Cart team have been working on a new Be Healthy section on our site as a destination for readers interested in leading a healthy lifestyle. We would love help from you, our friends, in this area so if you have topics, recipes, book reviews, exercise tips or ideas that would contribute to a woman’s good health please send them in for posting as this is our collective site to share.

Want a simple way to make sure you are getting some of the essential cancer prevention foods into your diet? Here’s a quick list of 10 Super Foods and Drinks to help keep your body healthy and cancer free. We also included some ideas on how to use these foods to make your cancer prevention diet interesting!

We know that there is a lot we can control when it comes to making anti-cancer lifestyle choices. We can be disciplined, go with the flow, or throw caution to the wind. There are benefits to all three approaches, but when you have some of all three, you've got a winning combination. You have to have the same approach to keeping your cancer risk low. Cancer has physical, genetic, and environmental causes - there is no silver bullet that can eliminate all your risk factors in one fell swoop.

We know, we know, we know, you're probably tired of hearing "you need to get more exercise" from your parents, your doctor, your friends, and your local news. But you can't deny that regular physical activity has so many benefits for your health and is a huge component of staying cancer free and reducing your risk of recurrence if you've already had cancer. So, let's see if you're up to snuff!

We are all about Cancer Prevention. But, sometimes, despite our best efforts, Cancer still rears its ugly head into our lives. So once you've got Cancer, it's time to make some decisions about your treatment, your recovery, and how you're going to keep up your exercise routine. Wait, WHAT? You're fighting cancer, who cares about exercise? Well, it turns out, it could save your life. Exercise should be one of your top priorities in your cancer treatment plan.

Alright, Pink People - we pride ourselves on being passionate for our cause. AND WE ARE! Pink ribbons, fundraising walks, survivor tattoos, volunteering for local breast cancer groups and more all show that we have all been touched by breast cancer. But when it comes down to cold hard facts, what do we really know about it? We know we need to be doing breast self checks every month and annual mammograms, but, we think you'll agree, there's a lot more to breast cancer than feeling or squeezing our boobs on a regular basis!

Ok, Ladies & Gentlemen. Next time you find yourself contemplating a big cookie or a piece of death by chocolate cake, think twice! We came across this article by our friends at General Electric on their blog Healthymagination on a medical study about the link between high blood sugar and colon cancer in older women.

Friday February 3rd is National Go Red For Women Day. It's The American Heart Association's annual campaign to raise awareness and funds in their fight against heart disease, the #1 Killer of Women. The Go Red Movement is a passionate, emotional, social initiative designed to empower women to take charge of their heart health, according to AHA. Go Red also supports programs to educate women and to fund breakthrough research.

We know that a key part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is making sure you find the time to be active every day. Usually between work and home, we end up walking a good amount each day, but it's usually in short spurts and at slow speeds. This doesn't do as much for us as it could. But over-using your snooze button instead of getting up an extra hour early for a cardio workout when you're already running ragged is very easy to justify.

We do a lot of talking on our blog and Facebook about how to lower your risk factors for developing breast cancer. Recently the American Cancer Society released a report linking 100,000 new cancer diagnoses every year in the U.S. to excess body fat. And quite frankly, it scared us.